SILVERDALE, WA— Two powerful PDL clubs will face off tonight at Silverdale Stadium as the Kitsap Pumas host the Sounders U23 in US Open Cup action. Both clubs have issued match previews. See them below! (Cover photo by Chris Coulter / Sounders U23.)

(U23 club release) On Wednesday, May 18, the Sounders U23 team will travel to the Kitsap peninsula to play the defending NW Division Champion Kitsap Pumas in the second round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The Sounders U23 dispatched Outbreak FC in the first round of the cup last Wednesday with many of the players having met each other the day prior to the match.

“The Open Cup is a great experience but it is set up in such a way that PDL teams have to grind out wins in the early stages in order to be competitive later in the competition if we can advance,” explained Darren Sawatzky, Sounders U23 Head Coach and General Manager, “Kitsap has been training and playing games for over a month so we know they will be organized as they follow a different model than the teams in our division.”

Sounders U23 photo by Chris Coulter.

The game will feature teams that know each other well as both represented the NW Division of the PDL last year at the Western Conference Championship weekend with the Sounders U23 winning and moving on to the PDL National semi-finals. The two teams are now pitted against each other 4 times in 2016 with three PDL contests coming in the next month.

Kick off for the game is 7:30pm at Silverdale Stadium. The team that advances from this game earns the right to play at Sacramento of the USL on June 1, 2016. To find the schedule and purchase tickets to the Sounders U23 regular season, go to http://www.soundersu23.com.

BREMERTON, WA. — (Pumas club release) The Kitsap Pumas enter the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in unfamiliar territory with regard to league play. However, sitting on negative points in the PDL Northwest Division should have no effect on Wednesday’s match against the Seattle Sounders U23 in a different competition.

In fact, Pumas goalkeeper Matt Grosey said, a win could help solve the team’s problems on multiple fronts.

“This is a huge game for us,” he said. “It’s a little break from the league we need, especially after a rough couple of days for the club. We can go into the game without worrying about points and standings. A solid win here will give us the confidence to be able to go again on Friday.”

The Pumas have historically been able to put league form, good or bad, aside when it comes to the Open Cup. From the club’s inception in 2009, when it lost to the Portland Timbers of the USL 3-0, Kitsap has used the tournament to showcase its players against higher-level opposition.

As the tournament has grown, so has the level of play in the early round matches. After losing again to the Timbers in 2010 and going far enough to face the MLS version of the Seattle Sounders in 2011 and narrowly lose by one goal in the Third Round, it became trickier to advance.

Cal FC made the Pumas its first victim in 2012 on the way to a giant-killing cup run that ran through the Timbers’ MLS side and fought valiantly against the Sounders. Kitsap failed to qualify in 2013 and 2014 before rejoining the competition in 2015.

Sounders u23 photo by Chris Coulter.

A victory over FC Tacoma 253 and extra-time loss to Sounders 2 spurred the Pumas on to win the PDL Northwest Division title. As much of a long shot as it may seem at this point, the players know that a couple of positive results in the Open Cup could be the catalyst they need to go on a similar run in the league.

“One game can change our season for the better,” Grosey said. “There’s still plenty of time in league play, but getting a win tomorrow will put us back on the front foot.”

The Pumas will be without center back Rene DeZorzi, who picked up a red card against Sounders 2 in 2015 and whose suspension carries over to Wednesday. However, the full squad is otherwise at head coach Cameron MacDonald’s disposition.

With only three substitutions allowed in Open Cup play rather than the six in league play, lineup selection becomes even more crucial. However, MacDonald knows that any perceived fitness benefit from the club’s extended preseason isn’t quite as vast as some might think.

“It’s true that we’ve been training together for longer than most if not all PDL clubs, but the teams we’re up against have fit players coming off their spring college seasons,” MacDonald said. “No game has been physically easy for us this year, and we’re not expecting that to be the case on Wednesday.”

As the Pumas have found out the hard way in league play and the Sounders did as well in their First Round match against a feisty Outbreak side, games between lower-league opposition usually means grinding out results. Teams might have to eschew the more aesthetically pleasing aspects of the game in favor of simply getting a win when it counts.

“It might not be pretty, but in some ways, that’s the beauty of cup football,” MacDonald said. “No game is easy, and no team can think it will coast through just because of the badge on their shirt.”

One of the PDL Northwest Division’s fiercest rivalries changes competitions on Wednesday when the Kitsap Pumas host the Seattle Sounders U23 in Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup action. This is the first time the clubs have met outside of PDL play. The Sounders won their first-round matchup to get to this stage, while the Pumas received a bye as the PDL’s highest-ranked qualifier when Rio Grande Valley FC of the USL dropped out of the competition.

• This is the clubs’ first meeting in the Open Cup and the first of five potential matchups this season between league regular season, playoffs and the Open Cup.
• The Sounders are yet to play a league match despite their First Round victory over Outbreak SC, 3-1 in extra time.
• Former Pumas midfielder Ashkanov Apollon came off the bench to assist the Sounders’ game-winner and score the team’s third goal a week prior in defeating Outbreak.

• This is the first meeting between the teams this season and their first in the U.S. Open Cup.
• The Pumas have only played an opponent four times in a single season once, the Portland Timbers U23s in 2012, which included a play-in game at the end of the season for the PDL Western Conference playoffs.

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The Kitsap Pumas enter their eighth season in the Premier Development League in 2016 after winning the Northwest Division for the fourth time in 2015. The Pumas won the PDL national championship in 2011 and advanced to the national final again in 2014, establishing themselves as a reputable professional club with a proven record of moving players onto the next level in the process. Kitsap plays its home matches at Gordon Field, an intimate 1,500-capacity stadium on the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton, Wash.